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Show THE PAGE TWO TIMES-NEW- Thursday, October 1, 1942 NEPHI. UTAH S. MADAGASCAR: WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Curb on Civilian Meat Consumption Eases Problem for Armed Forces; Hitler's Russia Time-Tabl- e Slowed Up? Work or Fight Is Edict of Draft Head, Wheat Price Minor Factor In Present Cost of Bread Improved Merchandising, Manufacturing Methods Boost Baker's Bills; Raw Material Cost Relatively Slight. (EDITOR'S NOTE : When opinions ars oxprossed In thess columns, they ars thoao of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Dy Western Newspaper TT"'" sssy in. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator, WNTJ Service, 1S43 H Street, N-- D. C. debate in congress Washington, The recent over the stabilization ol prices and wages goes as deep into the home and the farm and the factory as any national issue ever has. I received a typical letter on the subject a query about the relative cost of wheat and bread, what the farmer gets and what the baker charges. In trying to answer it, I found a mountain of statistics and a wide variance of opinion; but it was a childhood memory which gave me the most convincing part of the answer. First, the letter from my listener in Bismarck, N. D.: "Before you put too much blame on farm products for the rise in the cost of living, please explain soon in one of your radio talks, why during World War I, when wheat was selling for $2.25 to $2.50 per bushel, that bread was selling for ten cents a loaf while now, posted local prices at this point, are 92 cents (for wheat) and bread retails at 13 to 15 cents a loaf . . ." Now the memory: It was a clear summer morning. School was just out and there was a treat in store for me. I got up long before the family Wcls awake, slipped into the summer kitchen and poured myself a glass of milk and put a couple of cookies in my pocket. As I went quietly out the front door, I tiptoed across the stoop where the empty pan with a red milk-ticklay beside it I walked down Locust street to Arthur Barnes" house just in time to climb into the bread wagon beside him and his father. We crunched down the driveway and through the empty streets to the New York Central station. Before we got into the freight yards the train from Buffalo was rolling in. By the time Mr. Barnes had backed the wagon up to the freight station platform the bread crates were waiting. Fast Delivery We stood beside the crate. Mr. Barnes was in the delivery wagon. I wasn't nearly as adept as Arthur, of course, for he had much more practice in extricating and tossing the loaves and he often had to wait t second or two, while he toyed with the unwrapped loaf before I had managed to toss mine to Mr. Barnes who deftly caught it and put it in place in the layers that rose from the wagon's floor. This lack of dexterity on my part made me a little nervous and one loaf went wild. Mr. Barnes reached out nobly but it hit the side of the wagon and caromed over into the cinders. Mr. Barnes was a man of deeds, not words. He leapt out of the wagon and recovered the treasure, t looked sheepishly at Art There was half my pay gone, surely. But no! Mr. Barnes was frowning, he looked around, whipped out his knife snd with a few expert incisions removed the cinders, gave the crust an affectionate stroke with his bare Wrist and leapt back into the wagon with it The loading continued in silence for a moment. Then Art leaned over and said in a reproving whisper, "Don't say nothin' about that" It was that concern over a possible aroused public opinion over a lapse in our sanitary discipline which foreshadowed one of the developments that has increased the cost of bread. The incident I have described took place about 1898 and it reveals some of the primitive methods of the baking industry which sanitary laws, popular taste, cost of la be make impossible today. Take the most obvious: packaging. Can you imagine bread being shipped in crates and massaged by human hands today? Yet even as late as the time of which my correspondent writes, 1914 wrapping bread was unknown in many communities. This one sanitary measure is only one of many which have made the cost of bread higher the conditions with the bakery have changed even more radically. Of course, labor is Jie most important factor. In 1914 men worked much longer hours for much less money. Cost of Ingredients And when we come to the content of the bread, of which wheat, the commodity which most concerns my listener, is the most important we find it almost negligible in figuring the cost of the finished product. Ex- perts studying the question, state that there are few food commodities in which the chief raw material provides so small a fraction of the final cost as in bread. According to current statistics it would take an increase of 60 cents a bushel in wheat to cause an increase of one cent in a loaf of bread. Compare this with potatoes for instance. When a housewife buys potatoes, she pays only for the spuds themselves plus the cost of handling. Now all of these factors are mentioned merely to justify an increase in the price of bread since 1914. Officials concerned with food costs were careful to warn me that they do not all justify the amount of the increase. There is not complete agreement on that subject by any means. Some members in the department of agriculture say that bread could be sold much cheaper and still yield a profit to the baker. Probably one of the most important factors in the price of bread is the fact that the public just prefers to pay more for it than to bake it themselves. As one official said to me: "In the last war when I lived on a Kansas farm the women in the small towns in the vicinity as well as the farm ers' wives baked their own bread. Today you'll see the bakery wagon making deliveries right out in the country. Perhaps if the women who still bake their own bread charged for their own time, they would find it cheaper to go to the bakery. Meanwhile, it is another case of charging what the traffic will bear and in this case most of the traffic is willing to bear it" There is one comforting thought for the farmer. When Price Administrator Henderson puts into effect the measures to stabilize all prices, he will still have to let wheat go up quite a ways before it hits its own ceiling parity. But bread, for all its yeast, won't be allowed to rise much more. Aviation Accidents Show Marked Decrease served to disturb some people. Officials in Washington have received many letters on the subject. One which I received recently from an obviously intelligent womIn it she an, may be typical. meticulously listed the number of accidents, reports of which bad been published, all of which involved fatalities to military personnel. There were 77 deaths within a comparatively short period. The writer was shocked and asked if the cause might not be an organized campaign of sabotage. Because I felt that there should be some official comment on the subject I talked at length with an officer in the air force. The rate of accidents In flying in this country today, he told me, Is 68 per cent lower than it was in 1930. I think the adjective "remarkable" is justified when you think of the number of planes that are in the air now as compared with the number 12 years ago. We are not allowed to reveal the number of planes now flying but General Marshall recently stated that the goal of the air force was two million men and one hundred eighty-fivthousand planes by the end of this year. We know that we are well on our way toward that goal. With these facts in mind the number of accidents seems incredibly low. One reason for the reduction in the number of accidents ts the Air Force Safety program. This program is in charge of a colonel who has the authority to give orders to a three-sta- r general If he violates any of the safety regulations. The air force goes on the principle that it is Just as important to prevent the loss of planes and men from accidents as it Is to prevent their loss at the hands of the enemy. e BRIEFS by Baukhage armored units and East African SCRAP METAL: Need 17 Million Tons Two Australian seamen, W. D. McBurnie (left) and F. E. Miller, are brought ashore in a lighter at an Australian seaport after being wounded In action in the Solomon islands. They are survivors of the Australian ship Canberra which was lost in action when American marines and naval units supported by Australian forces made their historic attack on the Solomon islands. Japanese-hel- d RUSSIA: 'If Winter Conies' Chill autumnal winds that swept the Russian steppes had reminded the Nazi invaders that Adolf Hitler's timetable of conquest was behind schedule. Every day the Russian lines held was that much time lost for the Germans. Every day they held was that much closer to winter. Up the Volga river from the Caspian sea to beleaguered Stalingrad had come a Soviet naval flotilla. There, southeast of the city proper, the ships poured shellfire on the attacking Germans, answering the thunder of the big guns the Nazis were using to reduce the city. Meanwhile tank battles, air assaults and d encounters had raged in and around the city. While the heroic Red forces had held their ground and even forced the Germans back in places, the situation remained grave. Defeat on the Volga would mean incalculable injury to the Russian war effort, with vital communications disrupted and the connecting Red armies of South and Central Russia split. In the Caucasus, the Germans still had goals to reach. Still in the d Red dehands of the fenders was the south and eastern half of the peninsula. hand-to-ban- DRAFT EDICT: Work or Fight A "work or fight" edict to end the occupational deferment of men who stay away from their jobs or go on strike in war plants loomed as Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, director of selective service made public an amendment to selective service regulations which stated: "Whenever the director of selective service advises a local board that a deferred registrant or group of deferred registrants is not supporting or is adversely affecting the MEAT RATION: Aids Armed Forces A voluntary meat ration of 2Vi pounds per week for every American was urged by Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard when he announced that civilian meat consumption during the last three months of 1942 would be restricted to approximately 79 per cent of the amount delivered by packers for civilian use during the last quarter of 1941. After January 1, it was indicated, rationing coupons will be issued. In his role of chairman of the War Production board's food requirements committee, Mr. Wickard disclosed that to assure sufficient e meat for army, navy and needs, deliveries of beef and veal to civilians would-- e ,,80, per cent of the amount sold during the last quarter of 1941; lamb and mutton deliveries would be 95 per cent; and pork deliveries 75 per cent. The proposed 2Vz pound weekly meat allowance, he said, was entirely adequate for good nutrition. Individual households may use any method the family prefers in effecting the rationing, he added. However, if there are invalids, aged persons, young children, or vegetarians in the home, the housewife should reduce her purchases accordingly. Simultaneously with his announcement of a limitation in the civilian meat supply, Secretary Wickard warned of a food shortage "in the not too distant future" in urging congress to consider labor draft legislation as one means of halting the mass exodus of farm workers to war industries and the armed forces. lend-leas- II I G HEIGHTS - America had stopped living on its metal "fat" and now must dip back 40 years for steel and iron junk, leading steel producers declared in assaying the nation's critical scrap metal situation. "Many millions of tons of iron and steel scrap must be collected if the tremendous tonnage of steel needed in the nation's war effort is to be produced," said Eugene R. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel corporation. At least 17 million tons of scrap would be needed before January 1, when war production was scheduled to reach its peak. Monthly conof scrap was running sumption about four million tons, the greatest in history, but still not enough. "Every farmer and every householder has a heavy responsibility for the country's production of guns, tanks, ships and shells," said Ralph H. Watson, vice president of the "The reU. S. Steel corporation. covery of scrap is one of the most important war jobs facing America today." NAVY: Gains on Subs Evidence that the United Nations were forging ahead of the Axis in the race for control of the oceans imWl"-- t - r '""Hi 4 A. Berlin correspondent of a Swedish newspaper has stated that the total number of foreign workers in Germany is now 4.000,000 including 1,500,0(10 prisoners of war The Rockefeller foundation is providing yellow fever vaccine free to the government for the use of the Economists estimate that we will have about 3 per cent more tows in the dairy herds of the couniry this year than we had last and about 3 per cit nmre cows nc:;t y?ar armed forces. A MEXICO CITY: Reporting that higher prices for silver bullion In the United States were draining off Mexican silver money, the treasury that it had ministry announced banned the export of silver coins. The ruling would have the effect of making Mexican citizens and tourists leave their change behind whrn they crossed into the United States, thus conserving the supply. MARSIIFIELD: Old 102, a railroad engine that served throughout the World war on Coos county. Ore., tracks and was In logging circles throughout the Pacific Northwest has joined the army in northeastern Oregon, it was announced here. The locomotive, now an oil burner, first used coal when It went into operation 30 years ago. It Is now hauling supplies. well-know- n SIPEARS that frayed chair for with a little expense in time and money it may be made to serve for the duration. The sagging arm rest, magazine wicker holder and frayed-ou- t around the legs should be re- - DON'T throw away LITTLE BUSINESS CRUSADER Donald Nelson's "get tough" policy gets increasingly unfortunate COTTON reverberations. Part of this is beBASTED TO ' W?) BATTING if' BT,f-pAcause Donald, nice as he is, and MUSUN J.'NC! V well liked as be is, just doesn't seem REMOVE MAGAZINE V to have a knack for feeling the public pulse. For instance, he should have known that the most popular man in Washington, as far as little business is concerned, is Guy Holcomb, head of the justice department's small business bureau. Yet Nelson FRINGE ANO BUT- reached into the justice department vons-tuf- t Br lain lnhM!Sw and demanded that the attorney fl II II H t A' Vj8& SEWING THROUGH'( Holcomb. BACK reaction AtJO fire The ARMS, general USAffi has been Nelson bad. against Nelson had no jurisdiction over Cotton batting is then the justice department and it is moved. unusual for one executive to reach basted to muslin and sewn to the into the affairs of an outside office. chair. The sateen cover for chair and cushion is made next. The tuftHowever, Holcomb has been consistently critical of WPB's failure ing is done by sewing through to award war contracts to little busicover, padding and openings in the ness; his cracks got on Nelson's wicker work with carpet thread nerves, and he demanded that the and a long darning needle; addattorney general fire him. So to ing a button at each stitch. keep peace in the official family, HolNOTE: This chatr remodeling Idea is comb was "permitted to resign." from BOOK 7, of the series of booklets Holcomb a was Actually, bustling which Mrs. Spears has prepared for readyoung business man from Atlanta, ers. Book 7 also gives directions for a cupboard; spools, boxes and Ga., who knew nothing about red dining room orange crates made into useful furnitape, spurned bureaucracy and went ture. A washstand. an old buffet, and' around saying exactly what he tome chairs are remodeled. Thirty-two- , thought of people who seemed to pages of illustrated directions for 10 cents be lying down on the job. Result: postpaid. Address: He made a lot of enemies, but he MRS? RUTH WYETH SPEARS got an awful lot done for little busiNew York Bedford Hills 111 1 f?S2 ness. Drawer For instance, he discovered that only three companies in the entire United States got all the contracts for putting boilers in merchant For military reasons, the greater part of the report cannot be revealed. However, this much can be told: The subcommittee, 7. Address. ships. ALASKAN ATTACKS The senate military affairs committee got some encouraging news when it met behind closed doors to hear the report of a subcommittee which has returned from an inspection tour of our Alaskan fortifications. 10 Enclose It cents for Book Name candomore for you thanSt. Joseph Aspirin. So why pay more? World's largest seller 36 tablets 20t, 100 for only 35. at 10. A good Gainful Listener listener is not only popu- lar everywhere, but after a while he knows Mizner. Wilson something. CORNS GO FAST P&lia goes quick, corns peediiy removed wbeo yoa am thin, soothing, cushioning Dr. BchoU's s. Try them I Ztino-pad- Laugh Early We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying without laughing at all. La Bruyere. MORE PATES"? ut for girls who hasten healing of externally caused pimples by relieving irritation with licked. Hitherto we have been unable to send protective convoys of fighting planes with bombers raiding Jap positions in the Aleutians, because our fighters do not have the flying round trip range for the 1,000-mil-e from the army base at Umnak island, nearest outpost to the Japs. However, this problem has been solved by the installation of "belly" gas tanks on fighters. They carry several hundred gallons of fuel and can be dropped after they are 04, REP. CARL VINSON . . begun to turn the corner." son. "Directly or indirectly the first fruits of American naval expansion are already influencing the course of the war." Citing the American victories in the Solomon islands as an indication of the offensive spirit among the United Nations, Mr. Vinson revealed that at the beginning of July, the United States was building 3,230 combat auxiliary, patrol and mine vessels for its own navy. This compared with only 697 ships of the same category under construction a year earlier. VATICAN: Post War Plans? -- No official announcements from the Vatican followed the conferences of Myron C. Taylor with Pope Pius XII. But seasoned diplomatic observers viewed the visit of Presi- dent Roosevelt's personal representative to Vatican City as a step in paving the way for collaboration in post-wa- r plans. This was given credence in the light of Mr. Taylor's subsequent conferences with the British and French envoys to the Vatican and the representatives of conquered Poland and Jugoslavia. Immediately in the foreground as reasons for Mr. Taylor's journey to Rome were: the need to discuss American Interests In protecting American Catholics In Japanese-occupieterritory; relations between the United Stales and South American countries; and the American government's protest to Vichy against persecution of the Jews, In the hope that the Vatican formally would support the protests. But over and above there Immediate objectives appeared the possibility that the groundwork was laid for post-wa- r collaboration. d America's bombing planes are the lethal successors of the weaponless planes which were used exclusively for observation purposes in World War I, toys the Aviation News committee. Washington, D. C. composed of Senators Happy Chandler of Kentucky, Mon Wallgren of Washington and Rufus Holman of Oregon, was unanimous in declaring that our aerial defenses in Alaska were strong enough to repel any attempted Jap invasion. Remarkable progress has been made since Pearl Harbor in establishing new land and sea bases in the Alaskan area. The three senators also paid high tribute to the morale and skill of U. S. airmen, who are forced to fly in the worst 1 kinds of weather conditions. Though refusing to predict on how soon we can start an all-oair offensive to drive the Japs from their footholds in the Aleutians, the 41 reported that one obstacle which has been holding up such an offensive has now been -- in the tvrek's news DREW PEARSON was disclosed by Chairman Carl Vinson of the house naval affairs committee in a report compiled in with the navy department. Allied shipping losses along the Atlantic coast had virtually ceased, the report said, while a fivefold increase was being achieved in the navy's shipbuilding program. "At sea we have begun to turn the corner," said Congressman Vin-- 10 DAY MIRACLE: Performed by Kaiser Shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser had broken many a naval construction record and been justly proud. But of all was he when the war effort or the national health, proudest 10,500-to-n Liberty freighter Joseph local or board the interest, safety shall immediately terminate the de- N. Teal hit the water in Kaiser's10 Portland, Ore., shipyard exactly ferment and consider anew the clasfrom the time its keel was sification of such registrant or regis- days laid. This amazing feat clipped 14 trants." days from the previous speed record Local boards hitherto had authorifor shipbuilding. in to and such persons ty reclassify Addressing shipyard workers, a number of instances had done so. maritime commission representatives and shipyard officials. Kaiser ALEUTIANS: said: "Our original contract called for 'Japs' Wings ClippecT Heartening news from Alaska was the delivery of ships in about 150 brought to Washington by Congress- days. Many experts shook their man Warren G. Magnusen on his heads and said we could not do it. Yet here beside us is this great return from an official visit to American fighting forces in the north. The craft only 10 days from keel laying to launching. It is a miracle, no navy, said Mr. Magnusen, had definitely turned Japanese occupation less a miracle of God and of the of the Aleutian islands to our adgenius of free American workmen." Kaiser saw in the new record a vantage. "The situation is good in Alaska," promise of future prosperity for he said. "The joint army and navy America. "If American brains and ingenuicommand is clearly now offensive-mindeThe occupation of the Aleuty do what they should do." he said, tian islands by Japan has been "I will have no fear for the future. turned to our advantage by the We will have to rebuild what we navy, giving us the opportunity to have destroyed. Prosperity can go sink Japanese ships we otherwise on and on." would have been unable to get to. Meanwhile Kaiser was recruiting "The navy has clipped Japan's an additional 50.000 workers to asoffensive wings If she had any idea sist him in the construction of three of using the Aleutians as a stepping mammoth aircargo planes as the stone for an attack ogainst Alaska." nucleus of a huge air fleet .RUTHMYETH troops took over Tananarive, capital of the strategic island. The communique that told of the British capture of Tananarive also disclosed that Antalya, 200 miles from the northern tip of Madagascar on the island's northeast coast was also occupied. Allied control of Madagascar, lying athwart Africa's southeast coast and commanding sea lanes from Capetown to Cairo and to Australia and India meant that a strategic setback had been handed the Axis. It had been known that the Vichy authorities on the island had been friendly to Axis agents and it had even been reported that Japanese submarines had put into harbors on the island for fuel and supplies for their forays against United Nations shipping in the In- OM THE HOME FROM! ' 9 KIM 9 Active Vichy French resistance on the island of Madagascar came to an end when British occupation forces supported by South African dian ocean. stout-hearte- The number of crashes of military planes in this country reported recently in the newspapers has f$PH Safe for Allies re-In- emptied. The subcommittee also reported that interference with army and navy radio communications in the Alaskan area, caused by bad weather and the Aurora Borcalis, was being largely circumvented by compass flying. UNFOUNDED J. B. Moliere. I Trt Ammunition I RATS.MlCEand IMa N,dd for Killing COCKROACHES tUU MATH is ohm 3ic and 1.00 AT AU DRUGGISTS RUMOR DEPARTMENT The Rumor: One of the Freuhauf brothers In Detroit who manufacture trailers, gave his yacht to the navy, but before doing so said he wanted to take It on a farewell cruise. He had no sooner got a few hours offshore, however, when he received a peremptory demand from the navy to return, after which Harry Hopkins and his new bride took over the yacht and sailed away on their honeymoon. The Truth: Harry Hopkins doesn't like yachting, gets seasick easily, spent his vacation In Connecticut. Harry Freuhauf, interviewed by this columnist on the telephone, said: "My brother did turn his yacht over to the navy, but the arrangements were entirely amiable, and Harry Hopkins never was on it at any time or place. We have heard all sorts of rumors about this, but there is absolutely nothing to them." POLITICAL TJps and Downs Unbroken happiness is a bore: it should have ups and downs. ft A k k COFFEE '". SHO ECONOMY Representative John H. Folger of North Carolina will go the limit for a constituent, but a recent request from a In his district almost got him down. "I have filed an application with the Civil Service commission for a position as an economist "I am a farmer of many years' experience and believe I am eminently qualified for the Job I'm after. "I have practiced economy all my life." Hard-workin- g J?VffiH9 Job-seek- Find the Scrap to Eliminate the Jap |